09/01/2002
by Alex Kearney

The market for France’s greatest 17^th century still-life artist (Paris, 1610-1696) was sustained by just one painting last year - and that a mere panel fragment by an anonymous follower. Yet this simple Still Life of Apples and Peaches on a Silver Dish (oil on panel, 23.2 x 36.8 cm) comfortably passed expectations ($ 4,350-7,200, € 4,800-8,000) when it appeared at Bonham’s, Knightsbridge, in London on the 12^th of December 2001. The work hammered for a succulent $ 49,100 (€ 54,300), a deserved success for a fine study arguably enhanced by its cropped state.

Moillon and her market are unusual in several respects. Her status as a female artist meant that she attracted few disciples though she did enjoy a formidable reputation among her contemporaries. Over the past ten years, more than twice as many affirmed works by the artist have been put up for auction than those by followers and copyists. About half a dozen derivative works have come on the market since 1991, though no more than three autograph works have been offered in any one year. Affirmed works by Moillon have fetched high prices in the past, but have seldom exceeded estimates. On the 13^th of December 1991, a meticulous still life, Peaches and Grapes in a Blue and White Chinese Porcelain Bowl (oil on panel, 49 x 64 cm) hammered for $ 274,500 (€ 303,550) (estimate: $ 216,750-360,850, € 239,650-399,550) at Christie’s, London. The same auction house enjoyed another notable result when a small but perfectly formed work, Plums on a White Dish on a Table (oil on panel, 24 x 34.5 cm) made a hammer price of $ 79,450 (€ 87,900) (estimate: $ 43,350-72,250, € 47,950-79,900) on the 7^th of July 2000. Apart from its considerable beauty, the painting’s success was no doubt aided by the artist’s distinctive clover mark stamped on the back. Sotheby’s, New York must have been rather less impressed when a Still life of Peaches in a Blue and White Bowl, Resting on a Table (oil on panel, 48 x 64 cm) hammered for an under-ripe $ 55,000 (€ 60,800) against an estimate of $ 60,000-80,000 (€ 66,350-88,450) on the 16^th of May 1996.

While the Christie’s Plums may have had the edge over Sotheby’s Peaches, quality is not necessarily a reliable index to a successful result. Indeed, Moillon’s market is littered with paintings that have failed to find buyers; since 1990 no less than ten out of a total of seventeen autograph and non-autograph works have failed to sell at auction. Much seems to depend on which auction house handles the sale, and in this respect Tajan of Paris have had a singularly unsuccessful decade. Of the three affirmed and one attributed Moillon presented by Tajan on the artist’s home turf, not one painting has sold, despite the wildly fluctuating estimates of the works. On the 20^th of December 2000 Tajan offered an elegant panel, Peaches in a Basket (41.5 x 53.5 cm) with an admittedly ambitious estimate of $ 206,850-275,800 (€ 228,650-304,900). By contrast, an attributed Moillon Coupe de Fruits sur un Entablement (oil on panel, 52 x 62 cm) was offered with a comparatively modest estimate of $ 13,800-16,550 (€ 15,250-18,300) on the 28^th of June 1993 but it too found no takers. Whether Tajan can reverse this unfortunate trend remains to be seen but it should make prospective sellers that bit more wary.

The market for Moillon’s followers is very small and not quite free of blemishes. On the 8^th of December 1995 a ‘Circle of’ Apples in a Basket, an Open Pomegranate and Lemons in a Mounted Nautilus (oil on panel, 50 x 65 cm) failed to sell at Christie’s, London against an estimate of $ 28,900-43,350 (€ 31,950-47,950). Christie’s offered the same work almost exactly a year later on 13^th of December 1996 with the estimate severely pruned back to $ 8,650-11,550 (€ 9,600-12,800). In the end it fetched a desultory $ 6,950 (€ 7,650), less than a quarter of its original lower-end estimate.

The recent Bonham’s sale is encouraging in a market that may never grow much beyond its present size. New works, however, continue to be rediscovered and should one of the artist’s rarer still lives with female figures appear at auction, it might be a real peach among plums.